Hall Of Fame Debate: Cast Your Vote For Gil Hodges!!!

I’ll be honest. Of all of the players that I have covered with my ‘Hall Of Fame Debates’ this one took me the most time to research as I knew very little about Gil Hodges’ and his major league career.

Sure, I knew that he was a legend from the days of both the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, but I did not know what put him in the same class of legends like Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, and others.

So, I spent some time reading articles about Mr. Snider. And I looked into his numbers.

And you know what, they are strong. So strong in fact, that it seems as if Hodges could be considered underrated….

But is he worthy of Hall of Fame induction? Does he get your vote??

Let’s look a little deeper…

Hodges was a slugger – he connected for 370 career home runs and drove in 1,274 runs. He had nine seasons of at least 25 home runs and seven consecutive seasons of 100 or more RBI. He also achieved the famed 30/100 feat in five seasons.

Hodges was also a pretty good contact hitter – good, but not great. He has 1,921 career hits and a lifetime batting average of .273. He hit .300 or better in just two of his 18 big league seasons. And of his 1,921 career hits, 37.1% of them were for extra bases.

Hodges was an 8-time All-Star and the winner of 3 Gold Glove Awards. And while he never was tagged as the best player in any single season, he did finish in the Top 12 for the MVP Award four times.

Hodges battled in seven World Series championships and ultimately won two titles.

It should also be noted that Hodges had a 9-year managerial career in which he recorded 660 wins and 753 losses. He managed the 1969 New York Mets to the World Series championship in 1969.

Pretty impressize stuff, right?

Certainly solid by all standards…

But does he get your vote? Does he get my vote?

My answer is ‘No’. While extremely good at points, I don’t see enough longevity with his numbers to say ‘Hall-Worthy’. I like the 30/100 a lot, but it is not enough for me to get my vote. If Hodges had a few higher finishes for the MVP Award to his credit I think it could help his cause, but he always seemed to be in the second tier and for me that alone puts him on the outside looking in.

For me Gil Hodges is in. He was THE fan favorite in Brooklyn (a team loaded with super stars Robinson, Campanella, Reese, Snider & Newcombe). There wasn’t a better 1st basemen in the 1950’s. Only his teammate Duke Snider had more HR and RBI during the 1950’s. Gil had the leadership, power and defense that every team wants in their first basemen. He missed three years of the beginning of his career because of his military service and I feel had he played he’d have at least 400 HR and at least 1400 RBI if not more. He’s going to be voted in by the Veterans Committee and when he is it’ll be a great day.

Personally I say no. But than you look at his numbers and there not bad. There better than Jackie Robinson. Who didn’t have longevity. And he’s in. Don’t get me wrong. Robinson was a very good player. But it goes without saying that if he wasn’t black he wouldn’t be a HOF. So I guess yeah. Put Hodges in

AG- I can see your reasoning, but I look at all of baseball and how he compared to his peers of the same era. And yes, while his number were good, even better than #42, they were not stellar. I still say ‘No’ on this one…